Monday, March 10, 2008

Something Spicy: Red Lentil Soup

This is my entry to the latest round of Waiter, there is something in my ... , this time hosted by lovely Jeanne of Cook Sister!, who has chosen pulses as the theme.

Although I've got plenty of Estonian recipes (as well as beetroot recipes:) in store for you, I decided to post something altogether spicier today - a red lentil soup. It's based on a recipe for Spicy Egyptian Lentil Soup in lovely Claudia Roden's "Tamarind and Saffron", but I tinkered with the recipe and the serving suggestions a bit, and really loved the result. It was on our table last Saturday, when couple of friends came over for a Scrabble night, and all four of us went for second helpings.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan, add onion and fry gently for 7-8 minutes, until onion softens.Add the garlic, crushed cumin and coriander seeds (I use my pestle & mortar), chilli flakes. Give it a stir and fry for another minute.Add the tomatoes, red lentils, grated carrot and hot chicken stock. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer, half-covered, for 30-45 minutes, until lentils begin to break up.Season with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Dilute with hot water, if necessary.

Serve with a dollop of coriander cream (mix coriander and cream/yogurt).*

* Claudia Roden suggested serving her soup with fried crispy shallots. But I had a lovely Egyptial lentil soup with coriander cream in a new deli-café near university here, so I 'stole' that serving idea instead.

I have been meaning to make this for the longest time - I have a packet of red lentils in my cupboard and all the spices I need, plus quite a few recipes to mix 'n match. But for some reason Nick has developed a dislike for red lentils and every time I suggest this he pulls a face. Men!!!

I love lentils, and I love spicy soup, so choosing this recipe for Spicy Red Lentil Soup from nami-nami was a no-brainer for me. I’d never worked with red lentils before, but got them at the Bulk Barn (yay for BB!) and was really excited to make this soup.

My thoughts:- This soup reminded me of a watery chili. And if I want chili, I’ll make chili. I like my lentil soups & stews more rustic and earthy flavoured, so while I might use this combination of ingredients to make a soup in the future, I’d probably play with the spices some more.- Speaking of watery, I was surprised to see that the recipe says you might need to dilute it with hot water. I must have done something wrong since, as you can see in my picture, my soup is not creamy and thick. It was the next day, but that happens with most soup/stews.- I used sour cream and lemon to garnish and did not bother mixing coriander with the cream.- Freshly made with sour cream and lemon on it, this was NOT a spicy soup. The next day, after sitting in the fridge overnight, without sour cream because I’d used it all, it was.- The lemon is an awesome touch. Don’t miss it. Use a nice squeeze from a fresh lemon wedge.- Grating carrots is awesome. It’s now how I feed raw carrots to our daughter, since I worry about them as a choking hazard otherwise while raw.

Overall, this was a tasty soup and I’m sure I’ll make iterations on it in the future if I’m stuck on ideas for dinner, or want to make a vegan meal (substituting vegetable broth for the chicken) for some reason.